Sampdoria will be looking to end their poor run of form when they travel to Brescia in their final Serie A game of the season on Saturday.
The Blucerchiati have lost three games on the spin but are already assured of a place in the top flight for another season, unlike already-relegated opponents Brescia.
Match preview
Claudio Ranieri took over as Sampdoria head coach in October with the club bottom of Serie A after suffering six defeats in their first seven matches.
Fast forward nine months and the Italian, now best known for winning the Premier League title with Leicester City in 2016, has pulled off what he set out to achieve.
Indeed, Ranieri got Sampdoria over the line with time to spare thanks to a run of five wins in six matches between July 1 and July 19.
La Samp have since lost to Genoa, Juventus and AC Milan, but they can be forgiven for losing a little focus after confirming survival a couple of weeks ago.
Wednesday's 4-1 loss to Milan was disappointing, with Zlatan Ibrahimovic stealing the show courtesy of two goals and an assist at the Marassi.
Sampdoria can now finish no higher than 14th and no lower than 16th, but Ranieri will be eager to end the season with three more points this weekend.
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That does not seem like the toughest of tasks, either, given that opponents Brescia are 19th in the table, having collected just 24 points from a possible 111.
Diego Lopez succeeded Eugenio Corini in February, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic wreaked havoc on the division, but they have won just two out of 14 games since then.
Only basement side SPAL have been in worse form than Brescia over the past month - and the whole season, of course - though they have a chance to bow out on a relative high.
Revenge will also be on the agenda for the hosts, having lost the reverse fixture 5-1 in January - Fabio Quagliarella helping himself to a couple of goals in that one.
Lecce are the only side to have shipped more goals than Brescia this term, and coming off the back of defeats to Lecce, Parma and Lazio, it is tough to see them stopping the rot.
Brescia's Serie A form: LLWLLL
Sampdoria's Serie A form: WWWLLL
Team News
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Morten Thorsby missed the Milan loss through suspension but is in contention to return here, as are Lorenzo Tonelli and Julian Chabot after dropping out in midweek.
Ranieri handed Wladimiro Falcone his Serie A debut in that most recent outing, with Emil Audero on the bench, and may well stick with the Italian on Saturday.
Gaston Ramirez left the field early with a head injury and is likely to be replaced by Manolo Gabbiadini.
As for Brescia, Daniele Dessena is back from a one-game ban and should take over from Mattia Viviani in central midfield.
Lopez rotated his full-backs last time out and may restore Massimiliano Mangraviti and Alessandro Semprini for this last game of a disappointing campaign.
Brescia possible starting lineup:
Andreanacci; Semprini, Mateju, Gastaldello, Mangraviti; Zmrhal, Tonali, Dessena, Spalek; Torregrossa, Aye
Sampdoria possible starting lineup:
Falcone; Tonelli, Yoshida, Chabot, Augello; Depaoli, Thorsby, Linetty, Jankto; Gabbiadini, Quagliarella
We say: Brescia 0-2 Sampdoria
Sampdoria have followed up three wins in a row with three successive defeats. Ranieri can be pleased with his work this season, however, having inherited a side bottom of the table, and he will be confident of ending the campaign with three more points.
Daniel Lewis
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Sampdoria win with a probability of 40.49%. A win for Brescia had a probability of 34.9% and a draw had a probability of 24.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Sampdoria win was 1-2 with a probability of 8.74%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-1 (8.19%) and 0-2 (6.24%). The likeliest Brescia win was 2-1 (8.02%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (11.45%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.5% likelihood.
